Conscious Consumerism & Social Responsibility

Menu

Ulta + Too Faced Haul

^^^ Watch the video for swatches!^^^

Here are just a few images of what I received from the Ulta Grand Opening/21 Days of Beauty plus a couple things from TooFaced.com:

ULTA HAUL

Tarte Glamazon Pure Performance Lipstick in Playful

Obsessing over this plummy rose color. Tarte is definitely my favorite brand. Tarte products are cruelty free and formulated without synthetic ingredients. Typically I would not pay this much for a lipstick. At $26 this product would have definitely been something to admire from a distance. However, I was lucky enough to draw a $10 gift certificate and was able to combine it with a $3.50 off coupon. At around $13, I was very pleased to have rolled outta bed for this one.

Goodies!

Yes for free stuff! Totally wasn’t expecting this but I was glad to receive these! I will definitely be making use of the Kenra Spray and trying out the Joico Deep Penetrating Reconstructor. Too be honest, I haven’t done much research on the Joico item, but it seems to me like it’s a deep conditioner of some sort. I’m usually not too keen on Ulta products. I had a terrible allergic reaction to one of their mascara’s before so I’ll never drop money on one of their products again. I think the lipgloss will be okay though. As the name implies, it’s super shiny, so it’ll probably be best used in moderation or to highlight the center of my lips. And the last one! Three things I don’t like combined in one: lilac scent, lotion, and Ulta brand. I’m sure someone in my circle of friends will appreciate it more than me, so I’ll probably be giving it away.

Stila In the Moment Palette (open)

Came back to Ulta a few days later (an employee even recognized me, not a good look) and picked up this In the Moment palette by Stila Cosmetics, another of my favorite brands. The top four shadows from the right are all purple-based. I was surprised to find that even the darkest shade had bright purple microglitters. I anticipate using the bottom five shades the most out of the palette. I also have the In the Garden palette, which I depotted because it arrived with a broken shadow. I really like the formula of Stila eyeshadows and was happy to get it for $20 as compared to $39. Unfortunately, I was not able to use a coupon with this brand in particular. The In the Know palette has all matte shades which I would love to add to my collection one day, I just have have to come across the right deal. This palette comes with a full sized smudge stick in the color Tetra. I love/swear by these eyeliners. They are one of the best I have come across for lining my lashline. They apply so smoothly and have a beautiful range of colors. Most of them are named after fish, which I’m not sure why that is, but it’s a pretty cute naming system :3 The other colors I have are Moray and Ladyfish, and I received them from other palettes as well.

I also went back to pick up two Butter London polishes (Disco Biscuit & The Black Knight) which were on sale for $9, as compared to $15, and finally got two Maybelline Vivids (Hot Plum & Vivid Rose) which are currently B1G1 half off. I posted pictures of them on my instagram. Make sure to follow me and check them out!

TOO FACED HAUL

Outer packaging for Too Faced’s Lip of Luxury Lipsticks

What I was most excited about were the lipsticks. As you can see above, I received lipsticks from what it seems to be different manufacturing cycles. The logos and colors are different from first three and last two. At first this was a little off-putting to me. I understand that these are the older range of lipsticks, but I did not want to have unusuable products. None of these were rancid and arrived to me just fine. These were $8 a piece, which I think is a reasonable price. Now that the sale-on-sale is over they are back up to the original “sale” price of $18. I would not pay that much for these though I do like the product.

Cupcake, Free Love, Sex Kitten, Living in Sin, Centerfold

I’ll give you a moment to muse over the suggestive names of these colors… I may go into depth in another post about this but I believe the naming of the product definitely has an impact on the consumer base you are trying to reach and the message your company communicates as a whole. Personally, I’m not a fan of these kind of names that may be perceived as objectifying or overly sexualized. I have encountered names on products that are culturally insensitive and prejudicial. For those of you that may think this is a baseless concern to have when the naming of a product has no influence on how well it performs, I would like to challenge you on that. But I’ll leave that for another time… moving forward!

Looking Lovely

I would say that the color in the tube is very true to the color swatched, the only exception would be Centerfold which seemed a little rosier to me. I also did not notice too much shimmer in Living in Sin. Click the images for a larger view of the color.

Cupcake: Light Pink Shimmer

Free Love: Pink Velvet

Sex Kitten: Sparkly Berry Wine

Living in Sin: Shimmering Bordeaux

Centerfold: Soft Beige

Temper, Temper and Neptune

I am also very pleased with the texture of Too Faced Eyeshadows. I believe I got these both at $5 each and now they are currently back to $15.10 each. At that price point I would recommend a palette over these single eyeshadows. Gorgeous colors! I plan on incorporating Neptune into my look for graduation (also a future post for sure!). I love variations of blue, especially cerulean, teal, and mint (hint hint).

Perfect Lips Lip Liner

Sorry about the dark photo. I took these pictures late into the night. A clearer view can be seen in the video above with a swatch. Hopefully, this will truly be the only lipliner I’ll ever need.

Free Samples!

Finally, my two free samples. A deluxe Glamour Gloss in Flirt and a deluxe Chocolate Soleil Bronzer. I hardly ever use bronzer so this will last me forever and smells AWESOME. I will definitely be using the gloss for travel since it’s so petite.